1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing facemasks, but more precisely, it is a method for manufacturing facemask structures that renders them more three-dimensional as to fit better to the face of the wearer.
2. Description of Related Art
The major function of a facemask lies in creating a special breathing cavity, which harmful substances in the air are kept from entering that cavity, and harmful substances exhaled by the wearer are prevented from exiting that cavity. This keeps the hazardous substances in the air from being inhaled, and the exhaled hazardous substances from affecting the environment.
Different facemasks are used for different needs. Generally, the common facemasks are disposable and are usually referred to as simple facemasks. A simple facemask is one in which the filtering materials themselves are made into the face configuration, in a way that the filtering face configuration comes in direct contact with the face of the wearer. The simple facemask is well known and popular since it is cheap, easy to use, and widely available.
Referring to FIG. 1, a disposable facemask as disclosed includes a mask body 80 and two ear bands 90. The mask body 80 is made of a filtering material and is rectangular in shape, covering over the nose and mouth of the wearer. The two ear bands 90 are respectively connected to the two sides of the mask body 80 and loops around the ears of the wearer, so that the mask body 80 can be held in place to cover over the nose and mouth of the wearer.
The disposable facemask is generally made planar shaped, with ear bands 90 thereof used to loop around the ears of the wearer. Since people's faces are not planar, facemasks such as these have serious leakage problems. To resolve this problem, a plurality of folds 81 are placed on the mask body 80 of a disposable facemask extending horizontally, forming a cambered shape to cover over part of the face of the wearer.
However, the afore said conventional facemask structure has a rather cramped shape because the mask body 80 merely provides a plurality of horizontal extending folds 81 and thus the mask body 80 can only be stretched vertically. Hence, the conventional facemask cannot conform closely to the contours of the face of the wearer, allowing gaps to form causing leakages. Moreover, the conventional facemask provides a very limited cavity for the wearer to breath and converse, and comes in direct contact with mouth of the wearer when he or she tries to speak. On the other hand, there is a traditional facemask only with vertical folds. However, in the facemask industry, there is no facemask with multi-direction folds (i.e., the vertical and the horizontal folds) in the market.
Therefore, due to these inconvenience and disadvantages, the conventional facemask was meant to be improved.